KRISTINA'S POVShe looked out of the window behind her chair and then back at us. "Do you guys want anything?" "I'll take some water. Kristina can have whatever she wants, right?" Jack asked me with a grin. Lea nodded. "Yeah. Go ahead. I'm going to finish up here." She glanced at me one last time before focusing on her laptop again. I watched as she logged off from her account, stood up slowly, stretched her arms over her head, then headed back towards the kitchen. I turned back to face Jack, who was watching me carefully. I tried to avoid his gaze by looking around the room instead, but he caught my chin in his fingers and made me look at him. He had a strange expression on his face, like he was trying to read something from my expression. After a while though, he dropped his hands. "I just wanted to make sure you know. We're all ready whenever you say the word, no matter what." The smile on his face was so sincere that I couldn't help but grin back at him. It reminded me of ho
KRISTINA'S POV She hesitated again. "We were going to leave together… We wanted to go somewhere safe. We didn't want anyone to know where we were. It just happened so fast." She glanced over her shoulder at the man behind her who had been following them, gun raised. Then she turned back to us. "Now the plan needs some change. But everything that happens next, I need you to believe it's my decision, okay?" Jack stepped forward, his face serious. "Who are you?" he asked. His tone matched his expression; he wasn't shouting, but his tone was definitely not friendly either. Lea still gripped the rifle as if ready to fire at any moment. Neither of them relaxed their attention. Jack was obviously uncomfortable, but I couldn't tell what he thought about the woman before us. He stared at her for what felt like a long time without saying anything. The woman seemed frozen in place and stared straight ahead. I could practically hear my own heart pounding. I kept waiting for the gunshot, but
KRISTINA'S POV I don't know why his goal is to kill me or what he'd even gain by it, but if I had any chance at escaping from here without getting my throat slit, then I had no choice. I could only play this game to its fullest extent. I couldn't afford to give him an opening to harm me. "Why are you here?" I asked again, taking out my wallet and flipping through the small leather notebook inside. "What do you want from me?" "You really should put that gun away, Kristina. You need a better excuse for it than that." When I remained silent, he continued, "If you must know the reason I am here, the reason that brought me to your doorstep, you can call it blackmail... if you will…" His eyes gleamed mischievously as he continued, "Or you can call it 'the truth.' Whatever you wish, I have told you, now you tell me." "I said… What do you want from me?"His eyes were fixed on my chest, and I felt uncomfortable having him so close. Even though I knew it was best that way, the idea of letti
KRISTINA'S POVI looked him dead in the eyes. I stared into his blue ones that reminded me of the ocean. "Because…" I whispered. "Please… Tell me." He stared at me silently for what seemed like ages before sighing and leaning backwards. "There are many things you don't know about me," he said eventually, avoiding my stare. "Things I haven't even told anyone." My brows furrowed together in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked cautiously. Nathan met my questioning gaze, almost hesitant to begin. He licked his lips nervously before finally speaking. "When… When we first met." His eyes flickered nervously away from mine. "We fought. I–I tried to kill you, to protect you. To keep you safe–from harm. And, you defended me." "Protecting me from who?" I whispered softly. Nathan's head snapped back up to look at me again, his expression pained. He shook his head lightly. "You won't believe me even if I say it." I sighed at his response but remained silent. It was a conversation best
KRISTINA'S POVThe pink on his cheeks grew darker as he glanced down at me. There was still a hint of laughter around the corners of his mouth, but there was also an unmistakable sense of awkwardness and discomfort in his eyes. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, totally," I lied. I forced myself to smile. "Just tripped on some roots. Nothing more." Nathan nodded slowly and looked away. "Right, right..." As if just remembering why I'd fallen into his arms, he reached out and took hold of my elbow, guiding me forward again. "Let's keep walking." I tried not to be bothered by that slight tone of dismissal. I didn't know how he knew I was lying–did he see my blush? Was he reading my mind? But whatever the reason, I couldn't let it distract me now. We were nearly at my house, so there would be no time for me to stew over how weird the incident was before it could happen again. That was all there was to it. A small part of me wondered if that was true; the rest of me was trying desperately to pr
KRISTINA'S POVWhen I got close enough to peer through the glass I saw... nothing. He was wearing the same black hoodie, the same jeans, and those stupid goggles that had made everyone so mad at him last year. It was hard to believe that he was really standing outside. "Nathan?" I whispered. "Who's there?" There was no answer but some kind of tapping noise. And then more of the same. A soft, repetitive rhythm that reminded me of some sort of drum machine. It sounded almost musical. Like someone was beating on a metal plate with an iron hammer. "Nathan?" I called again, stepping closer to the open window. "What's going on? Is somebody there?" The knocking started up again. "Hello?" I called again. The stranger tapped his fingers against the wall beside the window, slowly at first but growing faster and louder. He knew I was awake now and I felt like jumping back under the covers when I suddenly heard his voice coming from inside the room. It was deep and slow, a monotone. His accen
KRISTINA'S POVAfter a while, Nathan spoke again. He sat up and stared out into space. "You know, we're supposed to be trying to stay out of trouble, but here we are." I smiled slightly. "You can always get out of trouble by following the rules," I teased. "But I agree, things don't add up. Why does he want to talk to us, anyway?" Nathan sighed. "I'm not entirely sure." "What makes you say that?" "Well... why would you go out of your way to give people a chance if you aren't planning to take advantage of them?" I rolled onto my side, facing Nathan once more. "You mean because we're supposed to hate people like ourselves?" Nathan raised an eyebrow. "How many people can hate themselves?" "Not enough," I grumbled. Nathan laughed lightly. "You've been through a lot more than I have, though. You don't judge people based on whether or not they're nice. Or if they have powers." My face scrunched up in confusion, but Nathan continued without looking at me. "People judge others by ho
KRISTINA'S POV I'd never get a new one anyway. Nathan stared off into the distance for a minute or two. I wasn't sure if he was still out of breath, or just collecting his thoughts. He turned suddenly and walked toward me. "Do you want to go back?" he asked. His words caught me off guard. "Huh? Go back where?" "The town. To find out who did this." He gestured at the destroyed remains around us. "To figure out why someone would do something like this." Of course that was exactly what I wanted to do. But I shook my head slowly, regretting even being here. "No." He nodded, but didn't respond. For a moment we stood silently together in the middle of the road, staring at each other. Finally, he spoke again. "Why not?" "You don't know anything about what happened," I said. "And besides, you don't know where we are. We might end up trapped somewhere else in the rubble…" The thought made me shudder. What would happen if Nathan was trapped in the rubble with me? I couldn't handle ano